Welcome to Panama, dude...A place to kick back, relax, and enjoy the lighter side of expat living in Panama!

Christmas in Pedasi, Panama – PanamaDude Style

So…you want to know what Christmas in Pedasi, Panama is like?

Christmas in Pedasi

Well, Christmas in Pedasi is pretty green, and there are a lot less lights. Just like back home though, there are parades, shopping, Santa and baby Jesuses. I bet you thought Santa was a big fat white guy with a grey/white beard? Haha, to quote my Grampa when someone guessed wrong on Wheel of Fortune…”Ya dummy”! Here’s the real Santa…honest…

Twas the Nizzy be-fo Chrizzy, and all thru the hizzy…

December 24th, aka Christmas Eve, is the main day…errr…night…of festivities here in Pedasi, Panama (and I’m sure many other towns/cities across the dominantly Catholic country).

Families get together for a nice big dinner in the evening, open gifts, and have a few drinks while they wait for the stroke of midnight to celebrate Christmas Day. And guess how they welcome Christmas day…here’s a hint…it starts with an F…has a K in it…

Fireworks in Panama? Never seen those before! These beauties were lit up by the Shermans.

On Christmas morning, the power was out in our part of the town so my wife and I went for a stroll. A block over from us, we saw a family on their front porch doing their best Flintstones impression, you know, having “a gay old time”. As we walked past we saw they were still putting back the wine and beers. Good for them.

We rounded a corner and heard what sounded like a generator. The power was out, after all, so it’s not an uncommon sound. As we approached, we saw a few dudes still partying and standing around the generator…because when the power goes out, naturally, you hook up the most important things that require power…like your stereo so you can keep the party going. Priorities, right?!

Later in the day it was obviously time to catch up on lost sleep as the town was pretty quiet. We went to some friends for dinner, where we ate, drank, and I became the World Champion of a card-based game of Monopoly.

Next in line was the Christmas Parade. The parade for Christmas in Pedasi was supposed to be on December 20th, however, the Mayor was not able to attend the parade, so they moved it to the following Saturday, December 27. That’s planning for ya! It was a fun parade, with lights, and candies, Santa, and Jesuses all making appearances.

Parades are funny here in Pedasi – they start on the main street, then turn right to go into the town square. After going down one side of the square, they make two left turns (obviously Derek Zoolander isn’t driving), and they come up the other side of the square so folks on the other side can see the lights, candies, Santa and Jesuses. After doing the square, they head back out the main road again, make two more lefts, then repeat the town square sequence again in case people didn’t see the lights, candies, Santa and Jesuses.

Santa Claus Coming to the Town of Pedasi…a couple days late.

That brings us to New Year’s Eve in Pedasi

My wife and I were never big “New Year’s Eve” people, often opting for sleep rather than forcing ourselves to stay up WAY past our bedtimes to bang pots/pans because tomorrow brings a new year…which when you think about it, kind of sucks. I mean, how many months does it take before you start writing the correct year?

New Year’s Eve was filled with fireworks, and booze, and more fireworks…but the REALLY cool thing here is when they light dummies on fire. And no, I’m not talking about the people my Grampa called ‘Dummies’ that guessed wrong on Wheel of Fortune. What they do here is make a straw dummy, coconut head and all. They dress him/her up too, and I hear some are filled with fireworks. And then, in the New Year, they light them up!